By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Local officials have mixed reactions to Gov. Jon Corzine’s new school funding formula, with Montgomery, West Windsor and Plainsboro officials favoring the proposed increases for their districts and Princeton Regional School District Superintendent Judy Wilson expressing displeasure with the district’s receipt of only the minimum increase in state aid, under the proposal.
On Wednesday, Gov. Corzine and Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy unveiled the new school funding formula, which calls for approximately $7.8 billion to be distributed for education for students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade for the 2009 fiscal year, an increase of $532.8 million. The plan calls for all school districts to receive an increase in state aid of at least 2 percent during the first year, with no school districts to see a decrease in state aid during the first three years of the program.
Montgomery Township officials view the proposed 20-percent increase in state aid to the district as a step in the right direction, but not enough to provide meaningful tax reform.
”I believe as a Montgomery official and also as a taxpayer there are very important reforms at the core of this formula and obviously it’s a very welcome thing for the older suburbs and for the 49 percent of disadvantaged kids who do not live in the Abbot districts,” said Louise Wilson, the township’s deputy mayor. “For Montgomery, of course, it’s the largest increase on a percent basis that anybody can remember. It still leaves us with a low level of state aid, but it’s a very important step in acknowledging that our enrollment increases have resulted in a de facto decline in our per pupil spending.”
The West-Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District’s increase would fall in the middle range, with a 10 percent increase amounting to a total of $11,554,000 in state aid for the 2008-2009 school year. The district would receive $6,086,000 for categorized special education funding versus $5,386,000 during the 2007-2008 school year. It would receive additional special education funding under a wealth equalized system in the amount of $1,964,000.
”With 10 percent I’m very happy, although the bottom line here is that there needs to be a reform to New Jersey’s property tax system,” said West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh.
The Princeton Regional School District would receive the plan’s minimum increase of 2 percent, with total funding for the district of $4,158,000 for next school year. Within that total amount, the district would receive $2,225,000 in categorized special aid for the 2008-2009 school year versus $2,981,000 for the 2007-2008 school year and no wealth-equalized special education funding.
Judy Wilson, superintendent of the Princeton-Regional School District, expressed disappointment with how the formula impacted students, especially those with special needs.
”While I’m always happy to see the state allocate more money for education certainly with this formula Princeton doesn’t gain much,” Ms. Wilson said.
She added, “My bigger concern lies in the arena of what will happen with the new formula in special education funding. That’s such a large portion of our budget and with there being no caps, we struggle to provide the best services for students while being able to balance the budget.”The plan calls for the Montgomery district to receive a total of $5,351,000 from the state for the 2008-2009 school year compared to the $4,459,000 in aid it received for the current school year.
While township officials said they appreciate the increase in state aid the plan would give them next year, they are concerned about how the new wealth-equalized funding of special education included in the formula will affect them in years to come.
Brad Fay, who will begin a new term on the committee in January, said, he thinks special education funding should be distributed categorically, meaning based on the estimate of the number of district’s special needs students.
”Special education funding should be fully categorically based,” Mr. Fay said. “As a matter of principal I think it’s a mistake to wealth test the special education funding and as a practical matter doing so will slow down the growth and aid that Montgomery would otherwise receive.”
The plan calls for Montgomery to receive $2,971,000 in categorical special education aid, but zero funding in the wealth-equalized categories included in the formula.
This school year the Montgomery Township School District received $2,314,000 in special aid.
How the state will fund this program is another concern of the township’s officials.
”The government is proposing a significant new direction in how schools are funded and that’s helpful, yet we also have to be realistic that the dollars involved here are not large enough to make a very big difference in the short term,” Mr. Fay said.
According Ms. Wilson, the deputy mayor, who has been meeting with the governor this week as a representative of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, the source of funds for the statewide increase in school funding has not been identified other than through some form of financial restructuring.
Gov. Corzine and Ms. Davy are presenting the new formula to the Legislature in its current session and hope to have it implemented by Jan. 8, according to the Department of Education.
Princeton mayors were unable to be reached for comment as were school board presidents for the three districts and Montgomery Superintendent Samuel Stewart.

